The Backyard project has been touted as a planned development in Bee Cave for a couple of years now. The Backyard is roughly a 35-acre planned district containing an outdoor music venue, a 125-room hotel with a restaurant/dance hall and meeting space, parking garages, and a hilltop garden. The idea resembles the Indigo Ridge project which is currently in construction in Cedar Park. Many may have heard about this project in the past. This is because the project was on hold because Bee Cave required builders to meet the requirements laid out in a 2014 planned development district ordinance. Since then, amendments have been ongoing for the development of the project.
Changes approved on May 26, 2020 will allow the venue’s max occupancy to 3,700 people and to address the concerns of increased parking and traffic issues. The amendment also provides provisions that may allow satellite parking. Satellite parking is just a fancy way of saying shuttle parking. The shuttle would pick people up from a lot that is farther away from the venue then regular parking lots. This proposal is to reduce on-site parking and to help prevent people from parking along roadways and neighborhoods. A second parking garage is also in the works for in the later phase of the project. Willie Way which is the main road for the venue is now a public road that will take some pressure off the Ladera neighborhood.
The Backyard will be located between bee cave parkway and highway 71, just west of Bee Cave Central Park. The idea is to transition from exclusively a music venue to a space that is used more throughout the year and more day to day. As a result, restaurants, retail and small office spaces will be added to the space. According to the Statesman News Network, building could take three to seven years.
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Backyard plan approved; developers drop suit against Bee Cave